The Islamic State group is trying to work on its special forces prowess. Well, they’ve got their work cut out for them, according to combat vets that viewed a recently released promotional video by the extremist group. The video, first posted by news site Vocativ, features a dozen scenes of training, door breaching and amphibious sneak attacks. There are countless reasons why this whole thing is a giant soup sandwich, a former Navy SEAL told Navy Times in a Wednesday interview. Starting with: Why kind of special ops mission happens in broad daylight? “Well, the only thing that they had…

SEAL Cmdr. Chris Cassidy was one of the first Americans on the ground in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He led boarding teams in the Persian Gulf. And now, he’s in the former Soviet Union. But that’s just the beginning of his next mission — one that makes trips across the globe seem like a walk to the corner store. Cassidy will serve as a flight engineer for a three-man crew aboard a Soyuz spacecraft set to launch March 29 from Kazakhstan to the International Space Station, where the crew will stay until mid-September. It’ll be the second…

It’s tough enough trying to become a Navy SEAL, so you can image the sharp skills and good luck needed to nab one of the coveted spots on the U.S. Navy Parachute Team, the “Leap Frogs.” But who says you can’t jump with them, in a virtual kind of way? The video (above) was produced in high definition by local production firm Surf’s Up Studios, which went wheels up to record the Navy’s famous parachute demonstration team make its entrance at the annual Coronado Speed Festival. On September 22-23, the annual racing car fest that is part of the ongoing…

The Navy’s “silent” warriors won’t exactly be off radar when “Act of Valor” hits the theaters in February. The movie, produced by the Bandito Brothers, is notable for the use of some real Navy SEALs, rather than more actors, to portray the commandos. Since the successful killing of Osama bin Laden last year, and even the 2009 rescue of an American boat captain held hostage by Somali pirates, the oft-secretive naval special warfare community has been in the spotlight more than usual. The occasional best-selling book and, unfortunately, tragic losses of SEALs fallen in combat capture the public’s focus. This…

Retired Master Chief Rudy Boesch earned more than a few laughs Friday during his remarks at the East Coast SEALs’ celebration of the SEALs’ 50th anniversary (the West Coast SEALs marked it two weeks ago), both centered around his post-SEAL Team 2 days. The 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act helped spark the 1987 formation of U.S. Special Operations Command. That same year, Boesch, coming up on 26 years as a member of SEAL Team 2, was one of three senior military enlisteds called to Coronado to interview with Gen. James Lindsay, the command’s first commander-in-chief — as the position was…